Gary Neville urged England players to go on strike before Euro 2004 after his Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand was slapped with an eight-month ban for missing a drugs test.
That's the claim from fellow Three Lions star Emile Heskey in his new autobiography, who said it was 'like the Gary Neville Show' in the international camp during the fall-out from Ferdinand's punishment.
Neville, 44, was the assistant manager of England from 2012 to 2016 under Roy Hodgson and as a player he won 85 caps for the national side.
But in new book Even Heskey Scored, it is claimed that Neville encouraged the squad to 'refuse to play' for their country because of Ferdinand's ban.
Heskey, 41, said: 'Gary Neville, who was the self-appointed union representative for us, I guess, urged us all to refuse to play for England to support Rio.
'I got on well with Gary. I wasn't close with him, but he was a good speaker and he wanted the best for us all. He could be a bit of a busy b*****d, as people tend to say in football, but I didn't mind that.
'I was still a young player in the squad and I just nodded my head and was happy to go along with whatever the rest of the group wanted. Gary kept pushing us all not to play and I think people didn't feel completely comfortable about it.
'Everyone liked Rio, but everyone wanted to play. It was a little bit like the Gary Neville Show, and I guess if Rio had asked us to back him, we would have, without all the threats.'
